Blood pressure is one of the most important signs of your overall health. Usually, doctors check it while you’re sitting.
But a new study shows that measuring blood pressure while lying down might reveal more about your heart health—especially your risk of heart disease.
The study was presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions in 2023 and led by Duc M. Giao, a medical student at Harvard Medical School.
The research team reviewed health information from more than 11,000 adults and discovered something surprising: blood pressure readings can change depending on your body position—whether you are sitting, standing, or lying down.
About 16% of the people in the study had high blood pressure only when lying down. When they were sitting, their blood pressure seemed normal. This means that many cases of high blood pressure could be missed during a routine check-up if it’s only measured while sitting.
Even more concerning, people who had high blood pressure while lying down had a higher risk of serious health problems—like heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and early death—even if their blood pressure looked normal while sitting. Their risk was just as high as people who had high blood pressure in both positions.
This is a big discovery for anyone wanting to stay on top of their heart health. It shows that checking blood pressure in more than one position, especially lying down, might give a clearer picture of your risk.
If you’re middle-aged or worried about your risk of heart disease or stroke, you might want to ask your doctor to check your blood pressure while you’re lying down. It could uncover problems that a normal sitting test might miss.
The study mainly focused on middle-aged adults, but in the future, scientists hope to learn more about how lying-down blood pressure affects older people, too.
Keeping an eye on your blood pressure in different positions might also help you manage it better during sleep. This is important because nighttime blood pressure can affect how well your heart works.
In short, blood pressure readings taken while sitting may not tell the full story. Adding lying-down checks to your regular health routine could help find hidden risks and protect your heart in the long run.
If you care about high blood pressure, please read studies that early time-restricted eating could help improve blood pressure, and natural coconut sugar could help reduce blood pressure and artery stiffness.
For more information about blood pressure, please see recent studies about How to eat your way to healthy blood pressure and results showing that Modified traditional Chinese cuisine can lower blood pressure.
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